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OSHA cited AGC Inc., Meriden, Conn., for alleged serious and other violations of safety and health standards, and proposed penalties totaling $92,050 for those violations.

OSHA initiated safety and health inspections of the AGC facilities, which manufacture aircraft engine component parts, on Oct. 12, under the Site Specific Targeting Program which focuses on workplaces with exceptionally high injury and illness rates.

"Using 1998 data, the average lost workday injury and illness rate for all industries throughout the country was 3.1 per 100 workers. The rate for the AGC plant was 15.92 per 100 workers in that same period," said Clifford Weston, OSHA area director in Bridgeport.

Weston noted that the violations found during the safety inspection include deficiencies such as lack of guard railings, obstructed means of egress, problems with material handling equipment, machine guarding and electrical hazards, as well as insufficient means for controlling the lock out of hazardous energy sources.

In all, the company is being cited for 33 alleged serious safety violations carrying proposed penalties totaling $71,050.

In addition, Weston said the health inspection revealed serious violations involving: lack of hearing conservation program and engineering controls for noise overexposures; lack of hazard assessment for personal protective equipment; lack of appropriate respirator program; inadequate emergency eyewashes; and the lack of protection for first aid responders where no exposure control plan was in place and employees were not offered the Hepatitis B vaccination.

The company is being cited for 12 alleged serious health violations, including proposed penalties totaling $18,900.

Weston said numerous individual hazards were found in the workplace, with most of the citations containing groupings of multiple instances of alleged violations.

The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to either comply or contest them.